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Parliament, Ndebele saddened by death of Ben Skosana

Pretoria – Parliament and Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele have expressed shock at the death of Ben Skosana.

Skosana, who was a National Assembly (NA) House Chairperson and a Member of Parliament since 1994, collapsed and died in Parliament on Tuesday evening.

The 66-year-old had also served as Minister of Correctional Services.

Ndebele said his passing away was a loss to the country as his positive outlook on life, and his commitment to improve people’s quality of life, had been invaluable.

“We will sadly miss him, but his family and friends should take solace in knowing that he lived his life to the fullest and contributed towards the building of the new democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prospering South Africa we are enjoying today,” Ndebele said.

Parliament said Skosana’s sudden passing away was even more poignant because it came as Parliament marked its final term and on the eve of its last State of the Nation Address when the country was celebrating its 20th year of freedom.

Skosana was a lifelong member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and was its representative in London. He also represented the IFP in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) negotiations which was the basis for South Africa’s move into democracy.

Parliament said he strived to place at centre-stage the interests of the nation and the imperative to harness a common national effort to strengthen our nascent democracy.

“In this respect he did - and achieved - a lot. We will always remember him as a South African, committed to entrenching the democracy for which so many had sacrificed their youth and their lives,” Parliament said. – SAnews.gov.za

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